


A favor for Grandma

by hoosonja



Category: Ylvis
Genre: Care Home, Christmas, Family time, Fluff, Performance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-13
Updated: 2014-12-13
Packaged: 2018-03-01 07:24:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2764697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoosonja/pseuds/hoosonja
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vegard agrees to help out his grandma without listening to what she wants first. Fluff ensues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A favor for Grandma

Vegard was distracted by the ringing phone. He felt irritated when he picked it up and even more so when the number calling was listed as “unknown.” _Oh no, I hope some crazy fan didn’t get a hold of my number again._ He kept a civil tone when he answered and was very happy that he did when he heard the voice on the other end of the line.

“Vegard, is that you, boy?”

“Grandma! Yes, it’s me. How are you? It’s great to hear your voice! ”

“Likewise, although I don’t hear yours enough and apparently if I want to see you, I have to switch on the tv!”

“I’m sorry grandma, the fall is a very busy time for me and Bård.”

“And clearly so are summer and spring too? I’ve followed you boys from the newspapers and I’ve seen you’ve had a great time.”

“I apologize, the whole year has been complete madness, but we have time over on Christmas holiday. We are going to Bergen for Christmas, all of us. So we could pop by Sognefjord on the same trip. How does that sound?”

“I was kinda hoping you’d say that. I have an idea I hoped you’d realize for me.”

“Anything for you, grandma,” Vegard said, but regretted his admission when he heard what she had in mind.

“A friend of mine hurt her hip and had to move into a care home for now and the poor thing is so depressed having to stay there over the holidays. So I thought she’d deserve some entertainment, those homes are such dreadful places that they make me shudder.”

Vegard’s grandmother wasn’t exactly a spring chicken herself with her 87 years, but she always said she didn’t feel a day older 65.

“So I thought, well, my grandsons fancy themselves being entertaining, why don’t I ask them to come on over and entertain the poor old biddies.”

Vegard groaned inwardly. He had been looking forward to a complete break from work over the holidays, but his grandma never asked him for anything. So he didn’t really have a choice in the matter. 

“Of course grandma, I promise we’ll come. But I don’t think it’s going to be others besides Bård and I, my people are away with their families for the holidays. Perhaps Calle, he’s in Bergen to visit his folks, but…”

“I trust you to come up with something. The date is the 26th of December, that ok with you?”

“Yes, the 26th. I’ll phone you with the details closer to the date, ok?”

“Indeed! Talk to you later, love.”

“Later, grandma!”

Vegard dreaded telling Bård about grandma’s plans, but he ambled toward the kitchen anyway. Bård and Calle were finishing their lunches when Vegard came in.

“Hey guys, good that you’re both here.”

Bård and Calle exchanged glances. What was Vegard up to now?

“Grandma Ylvisåker called.”

“Aww, how was she?” Bård asked.

“She was fine and she had a request for us.”

“A request?”

“She asked if we could go to a care home to entertain the old folk over on Christmas holiday. One of her friends was taken in and she was feeling really down because of it.”

“Entertain? What would that pertain? And when would that be exactly? I thought we agreed on not working at Christmas time.”

“On the 26th, at Sognefjord care home. I thought we could sing a couple of our songs together with some Christmas tunes, like the one we did with the Real Group a few years back. And I’d hoped that you could join us too, Calle.”

“So basically you’ve agreed to us throwing a gig on 26th of December?”

“Umh, yeah. But I couldn’t really say no, could I? It was Grandma Ylvisåker after all!” Vegard explained.

“I see your point. You on board, Calle?” 

“I suppose I could join you. I mean it’s just charitable to make some old ladies feel better at Christmas time, right? I’m sure my wife will understand.”

“I guess it’s a deal then! Should we ask Tarjei too? He’s probably in Bergen for the holidays.”

“Might as well. I’ll give him a ring,” Bård promised. 

So the plan was in motion. Bård got Tarjei on board and Vegard made the arrangements with the care home and asked them not to advertise the event in any way, because it was a completely informal performance. They were asked to make it a maximum 40 minutes, so it wouldn’t disrupt the day rhythm too much.

The boys worked on the setlist for their special gig and practiced together a few times. Time flew by and suddenly it was already Christmas Eve. Bård and Vegard gathered their respective families and took the 11 am flight to Bergen. They had a ton of luggage and the guitar cases didn’t help any. Bård had taken his inside the cabin, he didn’t trust the Norwegian Airline to keep his baby, Martin acoustic, safe but Vegard didn’t have such an emotional connection to his guitar and was happy to let it fly with the rest of the luggage. 

*************************************

They had booked vans for the transport and when they saw that Vegard’s was red Bård’s black, they switched keys without a second thought. It was almost instinctive for Vegard to let Bård use a red vehicle, it had been the same since they were small kids.

The Ylvisåker parents were at the door to greet everyone and even Bjarte bothered to put down his game pad long enough to say hi to his brothers and their families. He ducked away when Bård tried to ruffle his hair and took Bård’s eldest daughter with him to join him in the game. The wives got busy with the sleeping arrangements and after hauling in the luggage, the boys filled their parents in about grandma’s plans. 

The cousins were giddy with excitement, both for the Christmas festivities and the upcoming night. The best thing about coming over to the grandparents together was the fact that all the cousins got to sleep together on matrasses on the living room floor and stay up as long as they wanted. The grown-ups would retreat to the kitchen and in all likelihood would go to bed earlier than the kids did.

“Oh, so you’ve yielded to my mother, huh? She drives a hard bargain!” the boys father said.

“Yeah, I caved in like a balloon pricked with a needle. I just can’t say no to her,” Vegard admitted sheepishly.

“You always did have a soft spot for old ladies, didn’t you Vegard?” his mother smiled at him.

He smiled in response and Bård added “And they seem to like you too!”

“I suppose,” he chuckled. “And we recruited Calle and Tarjei to go with us, so it’s going to be a proper little concert.” 

Their mother beamed at them. “It’s going to be so great for those old people. Those places are terribly boring.”

“Please make sure you’ll never put me into one, unless I become incontinent or something and cannot take care of myself anymore,” she added with a stern look at her sons.

“Yes ma’am,” the boys agreed in unison.

The Christmas was such a hulabaloo with the dinner, presents and everything that it was a huge relief when the 26th came and they could leave the house with a legitimate reason. It was very crowded there and even when the boys enjoyed the closeness and time together, getting out was like a breath of fresh air. 

The boys took the red van, because “the color fit the season,” according to Bård, and picked up Calle and Tarjei. Calle brought a bass and Tarjei had borrowed a small drum kit from a local friend.

“Here we go,” Vegard enthused.

They sand Christmas carols all the way there, just to warm up their voices and Tarjei drummed all the available surfaces. Once he even slapped Bård’s bold head just to hear the sound it made, to Vegard and Calle’s great amusement. Bård wasn’t so pleased and the growl he emitted made sure he didn’t do it again. They arrived at the care home in good time and unpacked all the equipment from the van. When they walked in, they were greeted with a banner that said “Welcome Ylvis!”

“Oh god,” Vegard said under his breath to Bård. “I specifically asked them not to make a big deal out of it!”

Bård shrugged. “We’re stars now, bro, even in a care home. Deal with it!”

The festively clad men were shown into to an assembly slash day room and they started setting up the instruments and made sure everything was in order. The room was decorated with shiny garlands and there was even a beautifully decorated Christmas tree in one corner. The light in the ceiling were switched off and the room was lit by electric candles on the windows and a couple of spotlights that were aimed at the stage area. The atmosphere was quite festive. There was a steady stream of curious nurses that kept peeking in and some of them were clearly fans, at least judging by the long looks they threw at the brothers. The Ylvisåkers tried some harmonies together and their voices soared and entwined as perfectly as ever.

Calle listened to their warm-up with a head cocked to one side and when they were finished, he said “Your vocal talents never stop amazing me. I can’t get it how such small people can have such big voices.”

And with ease brought on by years of familiarity, he even managed to avoid the semi-playful punches from the brothers aimed at his direction.

After half an hour the doors to the hallway were opened and a stream of wheelchairs and even some beds were rolled in the room. Only a handful of the residents could walk on their own too legs and even they had some aids like walkers or walking sticks. Somewhere in the middle of the silver-haired throng was their grandmother, helping along her friend, who was wheelchair bound with the long cast she had on her leg. 

Grandma Ylvisåker pushed her friend on the front row and beamed at her handsome grandsons. Both men were marshmallow soft in front of her frail little frame and bowed their heads so she could kiss their cheeks.

Then she turned her sharp brown eyes toward Calle and called “Carl-Fredrik, aren’t you coming for your kiss, boy?”

Calle walked obediently in front of her and leaned in. He got his kiss and Grandma Ylvisåker patted his head.

“You look so handsome with your short hair, Carl-Fredrik. Don’t you dare go growing back out again!”

“No ma’am, my wife is very fond of it short too!”

“Good, good. And congratulations on your marriage!”

“Thank you ma’am.”

She returned to her place next to her friend and Bård started the show. He welcomed the audience and told them how their grandma had asked them to come and make the Christmas time a bit more entertaining. _A tough crowd,_ he thought, but eventually he managed to make most of them smile.

“As the first song we thought we’d sing a song about an ancient mystery of Stonehenge.”

The show was on it’s way and the smiles on people’s faces got wider as they ploughed on. It was easy to see which of them understood English, those people grinned at the silly parts of the songs. Soon they moved into the Christmas carols, starting with _Da vet du at det er jul,_ a song which Calle introduced as an “alternative kind of Christmas song.” Many people chuckled at it and even one of the bed-ridden old men let out a bray of laughter.

But the clear favorites were the songs where Bård and Vegard harmonized, joined in with Calle’s voice. They had clearly worked on their three-part harmonies and Grandma Ylvisåker had hard time containing her pride. They finished with a beautiful rendition of _Silent night,_ where many of the patients joined in with their old voices, including Grandma Ylvisåker with her beautiful high alto. There was a huge surge of applause after the final song, together with some whoops from the youngest nurses. 

“Thank you, you’ve been a wonderful audience!” Bård said in the end, clearly meaning every word.

The room emptied and the head nurse stayed behind to thank the boys profusely.

“Thank you so much, I cannot express how grateful we are that you agreed to do this for us. The Christmas time is always hard for our patients and you’ve made it so much better with your performance.”

“It was absolutely our pleasure and we thank you for giving us the chance to do this.”

Grandma Ylvisåker smiled widely at her grandsons. 

“You did such a great job, boys! You definitely take after me with your singing talents!”

The boys chuckled at their cheeky grandma.

“Of course we do, who else could we possibly take after?”


End file.
